Anime is one of the most popular art forms in the world.
It is well recognised everywhere, unlike some other types of art.
Yet anime is the worst recieved form; shunned by many as being unethical, and disliked by even more.
Anime artists have a hard time in a world where their hard work is simply shunned by others simply because of what style it is; most people don't even consider how much work each artist puts into the art.

People give excuses like: Well, anime is so easy anyone could do it.
Wrong; while the anime style does include Chibi, which is a very easy style; it also includes much more difficult forms, which rival realistic form in their difficulty.

Or: Anime is just for kids.
Also incorrect. Most anime movies are rated PG-13 or R. And almost every anime show on TV has been edited.

These, my friends, are just a few of the problems anime artists face.
But, now; we will hide in the shadows no more- it is time for us to stand and be counted amonst other more accepted arts.

We are not here to start a war, and we are not here to make enemies; we are simply sick of being shunned by the close-minded people of this world.
Join, and support Defend Anime Art; and help make a difference.

You're absolutely right.
Though, I make a distinction in anime art. There are two groups I divide them in:

I.) ANIME ART VS. STEP-1 ANIME

There's a fine line between tracing and *really* drawing. The kids in my school, for example, trace. Not by putting paper on paper, but by just copying exisitng stlyes and not contributing. Oh yah, their anime looks kawaii and decent enough. But it's unoriginal and generic. I call it "Step-1 anime", because it never goes beyond that dictionary-defination anime look.

II.) ART IS ORIGINALITY

Anime, like other kinds of art, needs signatures. Just because you can copy a Monet doesn't make you one. Art is about originality, above all things. Popular anime characters were thought up. The scars, the weird hair colors, the outfits... that's why we know and love 'em (in looks, anyway). But certain people copy the different anime styles, make new characters who look just like the others, only different names. That's I think why anime is so disrespected, much like the art of cartooning. Garfield may be easy to draw, but to think up such a creation is art.
If art was about perfection and realism, it would have died out whwn the camera was invented. Imperfection and constant correction make the artistic genius, and those kind of people propell all kinds of art.
That is all.

CHOW! And don't touch the sushi.

XOXOXO,
Roxanne

Who is Roxanne de Winter? I am none other than the Dandylion of Anime Fandom. The more you pull at me, the more I grow!

I wish I could visit the site but it's down at the moment. Once it's up though I'll be joining that forum and donning my battle gear!

Speaking of anime art, don't you hate it when you're drawing something animeish and someone walks by sees some similarities to anime and they go "Why are you drawing Sailor Moon?" or even worse "Why are you drawing Pokemon?" Every single time someone says that it makes me want to punch them in the face!...ooh sorry I lost my head there for a moment..

I agree with you, we need to defend Anime Art because it is becoming a rapidly popular art form, illustration has come to accept it, quite slowly but it's going somewhere.

"But certain people copy the different anime styles, make new characters who look just like the others, only different names. That's I think why anime is so disrespected, much like the art of cartooning."

When I read this, one thing came to mind: Dragonball (TV show) and Chrono Trigger (videogame). Sorry, but I just have to point out that sometimes it's cool when you see characters that look almost the exact same with different names and hair colors as the only changes. However, considering that the original artists CHOSE to do that on purpose, I know exactly where you're coming from. Originality is fun! <Personally, I like makeing up characters and then scrambling them together to come up with those random background characters...let's see if anyone will notice...>

>michaeldra
..... just to double-check; you do know that the artist of Dragon Ball and the character designer for Chrono Trigger is in fact, the same person... right? (o.o;;;;;;;;;;;;;

(... maybe i just read your post wrong, please disregard this message if you already do know. ^^;;;;;;)

and i can really identify with with ruxen...
god, the number of people that called my work Sailor Moon or Pokemon, or even Power Puff Girls... (x.X;;;;;
i think my biggest pet peive is people that call manga/anime "Japanimation" ugh!!

But yeah, i'd love to show support for Defend Anime Art. Manga/anime is art in my eyes... it's a means of communication as well. Why do you think mangas sell just as much as printed word in Japan? People need to realize that it is for every spectrum of the Demograph, and not just for the mass-brainwashable... i mean marketable "Y7" group. =P

I sorta agree with Van Douchebag. Though I won't shed a tear when the machos-on-spandex die off, I don't think anime or manga need any defense. They have taken off rather strongly, there's no sign of their influence stopping any time soon (witness the new Teen Titans cartoon) and I've yet to see anyone seriously trying to stop it.

Manga and anime are here to stay, and if the hicks at Marvel and DC don't shape up, they're gonna be out of a job soon.

Faith is what credulity becomes when it finally achieves escape velocity from the constraints of terrestrial discourse- reasonableness, internal coherence, civility, and candor. Thus, the men who commited the atrocities of September 11 were neither cowards nor lunatics of any sort, but Men of Faith- perfect faith- and this, it must finally be acknowleged, is a terrible thing to be.

Yea...I don't like it when people categorize all anime/manga under "Pokemon" stuff...(especially my dad)...-_-;; We should have some sort of peaceful revolt! *clenches fist and laughs*...um...or not? I don't know........it just gets very repeptitive when people always steriotype things...

<To Aimi~guess I didn't make that part clear enough? But, yea, I knew that ^.^ Thanx for making it clearer for all the other readers...That calls for a big "woOt!"...>

>michaeldra
gya--! (><
Okay, so you did know... Sorry! ^^;;;; i didn't mean to insult your intelect or anything. ^^;;;;; Just wanted to double check.

Peaceful revolt? Submit like crazy, get accepted to a big-time manga publisher, and become famous! ^^ Then you can go back to the people that dissed you and prove to them your stuff wasn't Pokemon.

... at least, that's my looooong term goal
*goes back to drawing more manga to submit*

>Van
... true ^^; But Americana's dying because they're cutting the really good stories just to come out with re-vamped old stuff... (or so i read from comic-news type forums) i do hope for the best for the superheroes. DC and Marvel are still top sellers (according to Diamond Distributor's list) tho... ^^;

okay... losing my train of thought... i lost my point. ^^;;; i shut up now.

the problem with Americomics is that way too many of them are superhero genre. If they want to stay above water they need to go the way of the 'English' Writers, not the Japanese. Give me more Garth Ennis (yeah, I know he's Irish, not English), Niel Gaiman, Grant Morrison and Alan Moore. I'll trade in any given superman story line for V for Vendetta any day of the week.

That's one of the reasons why anime/manga is so popular, it hasn't backed itself into a corner with only one or two genres types to defend itself with.

<img src="http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/4082/nanowrimopd2.jpg">
"This calls for a special blend of Psycology and extreme violence"

Aimi wrote:>Van... true ^^; But Americana's dying because they're cutting the really good stories just to come out with re-vamped old stuff... (or so i read from comic-news type forums) i do hope for the best for the superheroes. DC and Marvel are still top sellers (according to Diamond Distributor's list) tho... ^^;

okay... losing my train of thought... i lost my point. ^^;;; i shut up now.

Honestly, I think the american comic industry isn't dying, just changing, and using anime and manga as references.^.^ It's not a bad thing, as the Japanese did the same thing(ex.: the signature big eyes in anime comes from the artwork in Disney movies).

It's all good. I like both (I like in the one episode of Excell Saga they make fun of all the art forms, Americana, Anime, cartoony disney junk) and I think they will both be around for at least the rest of my life...

I actually had a post some time back about critiques for a comic I was debating whether or not to kill, and people told me to scrap my style and said it was "generic"; etc. Maybe it's xenophobia or something of the encrouching anime influence upon all animation now, like in Teen Titans, Puffy Ami Yumi; etc.
I also believe that the majority of popular American comics revolve around super heroes, and I'm tired of the whole good vs. evil plots with super buff men and women battling it out for the safety of the world/universe/parallel worlds/time and space continuum- whatever. Same script, different cast.
There's a lot of break through art styles in anime that are respected, but again it's frowned upon for unknown circumstances. Maybe it's simply a matter of ego, like how people accuse many manga/anime artist of worshipping caucasian beauty and using all their caucasian characters as their cast. Yes, that's true because every caucasian person in the world has eyeballs as large as their foreheads. Eventually though, I believe because of integration, people will no longer be able to differentiate styles anymore. Everything will be a melting pot.

There is much more to the Japanese style than doing the "big eyes" and all the hair tricks. There are tons of people who can draw it very well, but then there's plenty of others who just can't. If one is shooting for a style, they have to get it right, especially if it is one that everybody recognizes.

From a historical standpoint, current manga was actually based on American schools of comic books. After World War 2, a couple of the larger schools set up institutions in Japan, which greatly influenced the art form. So, actually, there isn't so much difference at the core.

Although, it's quite funny seeing a some of these "How to Draw Manga" books (although, not a part of the "how to draw manga" series specifically) that are sometimes written by American amateurs. Frankly, I can't draw manga for crap, but I know the difference between decent and amateur. People need to learn the basics of figure before they do all the exaggeration.

The Neko wrote:People need to learn the basics of figure before they do all the exaggeration.

Too true; "one must learn the rules before he can brak them".

Didn't stop me, of course

And the big eyes are due to the americans: the japanese were in awe of the americans after their defeat in WWII, and just like the first thing most people notice of asians are their "slanted" eyes, the first thing they noticed of american people were their "huge" eyes, and thus they went into their comics.

Also, the manga boom was virtually started by Osamu Tezuka (the creator of Astroboy among tons of others) and he was influenced by the works of Walt Disney (the two of them met in fact, and both declared admiration for each other's works). Watch Mr. Tezuka's works, which inspired most if not all of the great names in japanese manga/anime, and you'll see the biggest of big eyes there.

So manga is a cross-polinization of oriental traditional art and western culture (Speed Racer, for example, was created SPECIFICALLY for the american market). Funny that now it's the other way around, with american shows like Martin Mistery, Teen Titans, the Powerpuff Girls and Samurai Jack showing obvious attributes of anime.

It's a trend I don't find trouble with, and amazed and perplexed some people do.

Faith is what credulity becomes when it finally achieves escape velocity from the constraints of terrestrial discourse- reasonableness, internal coherence, civility, and candor. Thus, the men who commited the atrocities of September 11 were neither cowards nor lunatics of any sort, but Men of Faith- perfect faith- and this, it must finally be acknowleged, is a terrible thing to be.

The Neko wrote:Although, it's quite funny seeing a some of these "How to Draw Manga" books (although, not a part of the "how to draw manga" series specifically) that are sometimes written by American amateurs. Frankly, I can't draw manga for crap, but I know the difference between decent and amateur. People need to learn the basics of figure before they do all the exaggeration.

Yes, the irony of it all. Although, what you say is very true about the basic figures. Like my drawing are improving a whole lot more since I decided to get over my fear of nudity. I used to not draw nudity and would use loose clothing to disguise the fact I couldn't draw bodies too well anyway. But then my friends got me into artistic nudes and whatever and told me to start drawing shounen-ai and yaoi. So now my anatomy is a lot better and my drawings look better.